Top Army General: Budget cut in defence dashed our hopes

The Army representatives in their deposition also blamed the new tax laws under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime for burdening the force with requirement of paying an additional Rs 5,000 crore.

advertisement

Ajit Kumar Dubey

New Delhi

March 14, 2018

UPDATED: March 14, 2018 03:32 IST

The Army told the committee that it is running short of `6,380 crore to build ammunition stocks necessary for fighting an intense war for 10 days.

HIGHLIGHTS

Lt Gen Sarath Chand disappointed with the budget cut in defence.

China and Pakistan are modernising at full swing: Sarath Chand.

The Army is short of Rs 6,380 crore to build ammunition stocks.

Paining a "disturbed" security situation picture where China is becoming increasingly assertive alongside rising cross-border firing by Pakistan, a top Army officer has said a low defence budget has "dashed" the hopes of the forces and they have suffered a "little setback" because of it.

Deposing before the standing committee of Parliament on defence, Army Vice Chief Lt Gen Sarath Chand said the possibility of a two-front war is real and both China and Pakistan are modernising at full swing and the country should take steps to strengthen the military.

"However, the current Budget does little to contribute to this requirement The marginal increase in budgetary estimates barely accounts for the inflation and does not even cater for the taxes," he told the panel.

The seven reports of the standing committee tabled in Parliament on Tuesday revealed that allocation of Rs 21,338 crore for modernising the force was barely enough for the "committed payment" of Rs 29,033 crore for 125 ongoing schemes and emergency requirements.

"We are aghast to note this dismal scenario where the representatives of the Services have themselves frankly explained the negative repercussions on our defence preparedness due to inadequate fund allocations," said the panel, chaired by BJP leader Major General BC Khanduri, in the reports.

The Army told the committee that it is short of Rs 6,380 crore to build ammunition stocks necessary for fighting an intense war for 10 days. The government has set June 2018 as its target for meeting critical shortage of ammunition held by the force - a deficiency that limits the Army's ability to fight prolonged wars.

The Army also revealed that the activities of Chinese military in Tibet have increased over the years, whether it is the quantum of troops or the number of personnel undertaking the exercises as well as the level of exercises.

"On our western border, we have seen increasing cross-border firing to support the militants and it has affected our civilian population We have also seen a few daring attempts of fidayeen in Uri, Pathankot, Nagrota. These are a few examples besides the recent one in Sunjwan Cantt in Jammu and Kashmir," the Vice Chief told the committee.

Taking into account the developments in the Maldives, the officer said, "Overall, we have a disturbed situation and all the more important is that the defence forces should get their due and more attention is paid to them."

He said it was important that "we pay attention to our modernisation and filling up our deficiencies. More than ever, there is an increasing obligation to ensure that our Nation cements its military capability and is recognised as a net security provider in the South Asian region."

The Army representatives in their deposition also blamed the new tax laws under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime for burdening the force with requirement of paying an additional Rs 5,000 crore.

They said the taxation has not been catered for in the budget and this has resulted in shortfall of Rs 9,282 crore in the funds for maintenance and salaries for the force.

Seeking an additional allocation of over Rs 21,000 crore, the Army said the defence ministry has delegated powers to the vice chief of Army for perimeter security of military stations to prevent terror attacks like the ones in Uri and Sunjuwan and works worth over Rs 14,000 crore are to be done in this regard.

"However, there is no separate allocation for this. So, this money is also to be found from the same budget, leaving us with no choice but to re-prioritise either to reduce our requirement as far as the security of military stations are concerned or go slow on some other acquisition," the force said.

During the briefing to the standing committee, the Air Force and the Navy also mentioned similar problems of fund shortage where the budget was not even enough to meet their committed liabilities.